TEHRAN, Dec. 29 (MNA) – Deputy oil minister has announced that Iran will be put back on Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system in the next few days.“Provided that the US will remain fully committed to JCPOA, the SWIFT will be restored offering the opportunity for economic growth,” noted Mansour Moazemi.Pointing to the sharp decline in global oil prices, Moazemi said “in order to compensate for the loss in oil incomes, the bulk of country’s non-oil exports needs to increase from 48 billion dollars to 60 to 70 billion dollars.”He stressed that the lifting of sanctions will offer the possibility to enlarge Iran’s non-oil exports during the post sanction period.Moazami, who is also head of energy committee of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, noted Iran’s capability to increase daily crude production by 500 barrels emphasizing “in six months’ time after the removal of international sanctions, the goal of increasing daily oil exports by one million barrels will be achieved.”Deputy petroleum minister for planning and monitoring of hydrocarbon resources refuted the Western media claim that the increase in Iran’s oil exports will cause turbulence in the world market; “the bale should be put on some OPEC countries which have deployed an extra 1.8 million ballers of crude oil to the market.”“With the sanctions relief, it would become possible to provide financial resources and technology required for oil industry projects,” maintained Moazemi concluding “we need to properly manage imports and use the sanctions removal opportunity to bring new technologies.”

The US appears set to partially lift illegal sanctions on Iran, imposed based on unfounded accusations over Tehran's nuclear energy program. Easing of sanctions could come as soon as next month.US officials have for years accused Iran of using its nuclear energy program for non-civilian purposes, claims that have never been verified despite exhaustive and unprecedented inspection regime.US Secretary of State John Kerry told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a letter on Wednesday that Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the P5+1 agreement in a “transparent” and “verifiable” way, and that “suspension of sanctions is appropriate”.Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany – announced the conclusion of nuclear negotiations in Vienna, Austria, on July 14.Under the agreement, Iran has been recognized by the United Nations as a nuclear power, and it will continue its uranium enrichment program, but some restrictions will be placed on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday that the sanctions removal process could start as early as January, The Associated Press reported.Cardin said throughout the review of the nuclear agreement by Congress it had been speculated that Iran could comply with the terms required for the sanctions relief in spring.“Now we understand it is likely that Iran will be in compliance and entitled to sanctions relief as early as January,” Cardin said at a hearing where Obama administration officials were questioned about the nuclear accord.“Obviously, we want them to comply - don't get me wrong,” Cardin said. “But why did we misjudge so badly the date that is likely for compliance?”Meanwhile, the US State Department agreed that some Obama administration officials had guessed that it would take until the spring but it seems Iran has paced up the process.“We're not there yet,” said Stephen Mull, the State Department's lead coordinator for implementing an international nuclear deal with Iran. “I don't think anyone in the US can predict when that will be. The responsibility for that lies with Iran as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”The illegal sanctions on Iran have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.Iran has always rejected the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.On Tuesday, the governing board of the IAEA overwhelmingly voted in favor of a draft resolution which brought an end to a 12-year investigation into the outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.The 35-nation body passed the draft resolution by consensus. The approved resolution said the investigation was "implemented in accordance with the agreed schedule" and that this "closes the board's consideration of the matter."In response, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the IAEA's decision to drop the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) in relation with the country's nuclear case proved that the entire case was "manufactured" in order to increase pressure on Iran.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States appears poised to lift at least some sanctions against Iran — possibly as early as January — as members of Congress urge a swift, robust U.S. response to Tehran's recent ballistic missile test.Secretary of State John Kerry said in a letter Wednesday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran is fulfilling its obligations under the international agreement in what Kerry calls a "transparent" and "verifiable" way, and that "suspension of sanctions ... is appropriate."The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin, said at a hearing Thursday that it appears that sanctions relief could start as early as January, not in the spring as initially anticipated.The deal involving the United States, Iran and five other world powers would curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for giving Iran access to billions in frozen assets and oil revenue.Cardin said that throughout the congressional review of the deal, witnesses for the administration guessed that it would be spring until Iran could comply with the terms required for that relief to begin."Now we understand it is likely that Iran will be in compliance and entitled to sanctions relief as early as January," Cardin said at the hearing where Obama administration officials were questioned about the deal."Obviously, we want them to comply — don't get me wrong," Cardin said. "But why did we misjudge so badly the date that is likely for compliance?"Stephen Mull, the State Department's lead coordinator for implementation of the deal, agreed that some administration officials had speculated that it would take until the spring. But he said the pacing of compliance is in Iran's hands.Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, said Wednesday that Iran will carry out its remaining obligations in the next two weeks to pave the way for the lifting of sanctions in January. He said Iran would now dismantle some nuclear centrifuges and ship out a major portion of its stockpile of enriched uranium.Mull emphasized that the agreement requires Iran to take steps to dismantle its nuclear program correctly, not quickly."We're not there yet," he said. "I don't think anyone in the U.S. can predict when that will be. The responsibility for that lies with Iran as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency."Mull said Iran has begun dismantling its uranium enrichment system by removing thousands of centrifuges and transferring them into a storage facility that will be monitored by international nuclear inspectors."It has already removed more than 5,000 of its machines and is likely to move quickly to remove the rest in the coming days," Mull said.He said Iran is reducing its stockpile of various forms of enriched uranium to no more than 300 kilograms of material enriched up to 3.67 percent."It will accomplish this primarily by shipping a significant amount of such material outside Iran, while also diluting the remaining excess to the level of natural uranium or below," Mull said. "Commercial contracts are in place for Iran to ship its enriched uranium stockpiles to Russia. We expect that this material — approximately 25,000 pounds of material enriched up to 20 percent low-enriched uranium — could leave Iran in the coming weeks."Senators from both parties expressed concern about recent actions taken by Iran, which they fear could foreshadow Iranian noncompliance.Saying the deal is off to a "terrible start," Sen. Bob Corker, the committee's Republican chairman, cited Iran's conviction of Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter, along with the export of weapons to Syria and Yemen, and an Oct. 10 ballistic missile test that U.N. experts say violates the U.N. ballistic missile test ban."We see no evidence of them paying a price for any of these actions," Corker said.Mull said the administration was "actively considering the appropriate consequences" to the October missile launch, but did not elaborate.

Iran's aim of having Sanctions against it lifted by the end of January under a deal with major powers is "not impossible", the head of the UN nuclear watchdog monitoring its implementation said on Wednesday.

Tehran is racing to keep its side of the deal reached with world powers in July, under which the sanctions that have battered its economy will be suspended in exchange for Iran severely limiting its nuclear program.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who has overseen a thaw with the West, voiced hope on Wednesday that the sanctions would be removed in January, "delivering one of the electoral promises of the government" before elections on February 26.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano, whose agency must verify that Iran has put the required nuclear restrictions in place for sanctions to be lifted, told Reuters that deadline could be met.

"If everything goes well, it is not impossible," he said in an interview when asked if so-called Implementation Day, on which IAEA verification and the lifting of sanctions are both supposed to take place, could occur by the end of January.

Iran said after an IAEA board meeting on Tuesday that it hoped to have put the restrictions in place within two to three weeks. Amano has said his agency would then need a matter of weeks to verify the curbs.

On Wednesday, Amano confirmed that Iran was moving quickly to keep its side of the deal with the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China.

"Our inspectors are on the ground and they are observing their activities, and with their report I can tell that Iran is undertaking activities at a very high pace," Amano said, though he declined to provide details on those activities.

The restrictions Iran must put in place include drastically reducing the number of centrifuges installed at its underground enrichment sites, removing the core vessel of a reactor at Arak and shrinking its stockpile of enriched uranium.

"If your question is that Iran is planning to complete their preparatory activities in two, three weeks' time, I don't have a reason to doubt it," he said.

"If everything goes well it can go very smoothly, but if there's some mishandling it will take more time," he said. "It's difficult to say."

"WE ARE NOT INTERESTED"

Amano, who has headed the IAEA for six years, would also not be drawn on how long the agency would need for its verification, beyond that it would take weeks rather than days or months.

"If there are some small things, we need to do it again and it will take time," he said. "If everything goes well, it will be smooth. It's like any complicated endeavor."

Amano produced a report this month that strongly suggested Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003 and continued weapons-related work until 2009.

The report, which was drawn up under the July deal, received a muted response from major powers including the United States, which for years insisted Iran was lying when it said it had never sought the atom bomb.

Those powers had hoped the report would draw a line under whether Tehran's past activities had anything to do with nuclear weapons, clearing the way for the deal to be implemented, sanctions to be lifted and tougher checks put in place in Iran.

The IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors decided on Tuesday to end its investigation of Iran's past, passing a resolution closing the matter by consensus, which means unopposed.

Beyond the board, Israel and some observers have said Iran's past activities should be investigated more thoroughly before sanctions against it are lifted, pointing to Iran's less than total cooperation with the IAEA.

The IAEA report said Iran had provided no new information on several outstanding questions since 2011, but Amano has said his agency had gained a better overall understanding of Iran's past activities since the deal with major powers.

"We don't assess attitude, we verify facts," he said. "Whether they have fully cooperated, 80 percent cooperated, that we don't say and we are not interested."

VOA NewsDecember 16, 2015 12:47 PMIranian President Hassan Rouhani said he expects sanctions on Iran to be lifted in the coming weeks, after the U.N. nuclear agency ended its probe into allegations Iran once worked to develop nuclear weapons.Rouhani said in a televised address Wednesday the sanctions will end soon, after implementation in the "next week or two" of the historic nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers.On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency unanimously approved a resolution to close its more than decade-old investigation into Iran's nuclear work.

The global nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has ended its 12-year investigation into concerns that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons.The move is seen as a key step towards lifting UN, EU and US sanctions.The IAEA concluded that Iran conducted nuclear weapons-related research until 2003 and to a lesser extent until 2009, but found no evidence of this since.The lifting of sanctions, agreed in a July deal with world powers, hinged on the IAEA's findings on the issue.Iran has strongly denied pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme.Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif welcomed Tuesday's announcement by the Vienna-based IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), saying it showed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme."This resolution goes far beyond closing the issue of so-called PMD (Possible Military Dimension) and cancels the 12 previous resolutions of the council of governors of the IAEA which seriously restricted our country's nuclear programme," Mr Zarif was quoted as saying by Iranian media.